Hsu, Mutsu, 1991, Culture, Self and Adaptation: The Psychological Anthropology of Two Malayo-Polynesian Groups in Taiwan. Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. ISBN 957-9046-78-6.
This is a very interesting sudy, which highlights the contrasts between a Seediq community and and Amis community in Hualian and how both communities deal with the Taiwanese mainstream culture based on a traditional understanding of community. Hsu's study investigates the role traditional culture plays in social relations, crime, suicide, economy, education and adaptation.
ed. Harrell, Stevan & Huang Chun-chieh, 1994, Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan. Westview Press Inc. ISBN 957-638-257-2
This is a groundbreaking compilation of essays regarding Taiwan's cultural change following the end of the Japanese era. Many of the questions of "culture" or "Culture" that are addressed in this volume are still being discussed today as Taiwan forges a new cultural understanding of Taiwan and Taiwaneseness. This book takes a thoughtful read to understand the definitions of culture the authors use to frame their studies, but anyone who would like to discuss Taiwanese culture should read this book. Essays include: Feminism, Painting, eco/ethnic tourism, commercial and popular religeon, Confucianism and the New Life Movement, poetry, self-identification, nationalisation of culture and a move from radical coservatism to liberalism of culture. READ IT!!
Campbell, Rev. William. 1915. Sketches of Formosa. Marshall Brothers Ltd. London, Edinburgh, New York, reprinted by SMC Publishing Inc 1996. ISBN 957-638-377-3
Another one of Cambell's books on Euro-American observations of Taiwan.
Norman, Jerry. 1988. Chinese. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, Cambridge, Tenth Printing 2004. ISBN 0-521-29653-6
This is a fantastic book on the development of sinitic languages from ancient to classical to modern. Jerry Norman served as the head of the Asian Languages Dept. at the University of Washington until his retirement in 1998 and in this book he creates an image of sinitic languages that is both easy to understand and informative. I bought this book for the work on Min, Hakka and Taiwanese languages. One detail Norman adds is the disparity between Hakka scholasic tradition and linguistic studies on Taiwan. Norman declares that, despite many attempts by Hakka scholars in Taiwan to cast the Hakka as a northern ethnic group that migrated south, there is little evidence to support that theory and the Hakka, share a linguistic association to both the Min and Yue languages. The Hakka of Taiwan, though, may be ethnic Shi people, who adopted Hakka languages later.
Li, Paul Jen-Kuei & Tsuchida Shigeru. 2001. Pazih Dictionary. Academia Sinica Institute of Linguistics, Taipei, Taiwan. ISBN 957-671-790-6
For anyone interested in the Pazih language this dictionary is essential. There is only one fluent speaker left in Puli, but the language is being taught to some children in AiLan (Puli). This book is most valuable in desciphering place names in the Taichung area, but doing so takes an understanding of Taiwanese as well.
